Busy Philipps Explains Her Decision to Open Up About Her Sexual Assault After 25 Years

Actress Busy Philipps joined countless others last week when she shared her own experience with sexual assault and abuse in caption posted on Instagram. Now she's explaining how she came to the decision to share her story with the world.

The soon-to-be talk show host spoke to Ellen DeGeneres about that incident 25 years ago, and about how Christine Blasey Ford—the California professor who alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her more than 30 years ago—influenced her to share it a little earlier than planned. In the post last week, she revealed that she'd been raped when she was 14, and said she told her family about it only earlier this year, when she decided to include it in her upcoming memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little.

"I was so moved by [Ford's] bravery, and it wasn't something that I felt like I was ever gonna, like, blast out on social media, but when I saw her standing there speaking her truth after 30 years, I was like, 'It's been 25 for me and I can do this,'" Philipps said. "We can all do this. And I feel like it's—politically, whatever you believe—I feel like it's a real moment of reckoning for women, that we have sort of collectively carried this burden for so long and it's time to share it."

The I Feel Pretty star said sharing the post, which included a photo of her at the age she was raped, was "hard and really, really scary."

"I have a 10-year-old, so when I look at that baby [in the picture], I'm, like, seeing my kid," she said, holding back tears. When DeGeneres spoke about the horror of what happened to Philipps, the actress pointed out, "It's, sadly, the most unoriginal horror, is what we're finding."

DeGeneres went on to say that she too "had something happen to me" when she was 15.

"And when I watch Dr. Ford, anyone who's had something happen to them, you just get so angry when someone doesn't believe you or says, 'Why did you wait so long?'" she said. "It's because we're girls, and we're taught not to say anything and go along with it." Philipps agreed, noting that she'd "struggled with it for so long" before eventually deciding to write about her experience after more than two decades. "And even when I wrote the chapter in my book, I had in my head an escape plan, which was that it doesn't have to go into the book if I panic and don't want to put it out into the world," she said. "But I just feel like we're at this moment in time where—and I'm so sorry that happened to you, I'm so sorry that it happened to all of us—we can do better for our kids and the next generation. And we will, right?"

At the end of the segment, DeGeneres concluded by saying, "I think that this conversation needs to happen more and people need to, first of all, teach your children to speak up and don't ever keep something in and don't ever be ashamed and think that it's your problem and your fault. Because it is never your fault. You were a child."